Jagr carried a $4.5 million cap hit last season, so it might not be entirely accurate to say the Bruins don’t “want” him back. With star goalie Tuukka Rask needing a new contract and the cap falling to $64.3 million, they may not have a choice. (Also see: Andrew Ference.)

Ference, 34, is a pending unrestricted free agent coming off a three-year, $6.75 million contract. With the salary cap falling to $64.3 million and young d-men Dougie Hamilton, Torey Krug and Matt Bartkowski expected to be regulars in the Boston lineup next season, there isn’t room to sign the veteran who won a Stanley Cup with the B’s in 2011.

“With the current cap, [Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli] is not going to be able to keep me,” said Ference. “He’s got to re-sign [goalie Tuukka Rask] and obviously do his side of the business.”

The Bruins also have veteran blue-liners Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg, Johnny Boychuk, and Adam McQuaid under contract through at least next season.

With the win, the Blackhawks hoisted the Stanley Cup for the second time in four years.

It appeared to some, including CSN New England’s Joe Haggerty, that Chara, the Bruins’ towering defenseman and captain was playing with some sort of injury during the final.

But, Chara would not confirm that. However, his coach did admit that Chara was not at 100 per cent health, which is common for players during the playoffs.

“You have to give them credit for putting a strategy together, but at the same time Zdeno is one of those players that unfortunately wasn’t 100 percent,” said Claude Julien, as per CSNNE.com. “So he battled through it, and that’s what I mean by being proud of those guys.

“Playing hurt is part of it, and our guys did that. That’s why I say you’ve got to be extremely proud of those guys. It’s going to take a little while before we can realize the accomplishment that we had in making it to the Final again, but right now it doesn’t feel good.”

Chara wasn’t the only member of the Bruins playing in discomfort or full-on injury.

That gave the Blackhawks the Stanley Cup championship for 2013. For the Bruins, the process has already shifted to the club’s off-season plans, and that includes the compliance buyout, which every team is allowed two.

The buyout period begins Wednesday, just 48 hours after the Bruins lost the silver chalice.

“Some things are probably going to change in the offseason, but we’re a tight group in there. We get along and we’ve loved each other for the last few years. [The Stanley Cup Final loss] is a tough pill to swallow right now, that’s for sure.”

Following Chicago’s wild and crazy Stanley Cup win on Monday, Brough and I spoke with NBC’s Kay Adams about what the future has in store for the two finals participants.

While neither team faces a major overhaul this summer, there are some key free agents that need to be sorted out — and with free agency set to begin in a week-and-a-half, there’s not a lot of time to get ’em sorted.